On 31 Oct 2016, ANZ released an announcement that it has decided to sell its Asia business in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to DBS, citing lack of compelling competitive position in the region. ANZ remains committed to growing its institutional business in these regions, but will be unloading all of its retail businesses in the sale. What does this deal mean for investors and consumers? We examine a few possibilities. ANZ’s retail and wealth business being sold includes about $11bn of loans and $7bn of risk-weighted assets that are backed by about $17bn of deposits. This business generated about $825mn in revenue and net profit of $50mn, representing about 6% of net profit margin. While these are sizable numbers, they pale in comparison to bigger players in the region. For instance, DBS (the buyer) made $7bn of revenue and $3bn of net profit in the 12 months until ......